Roy and Torres shine

Liverpool took on Chelsea on the obligatory Sky Sports Super Sunday. The game before saw a shock in Arsenal rolling over for Newcastle to tickle their bellies and snatch a one nil win at the Emirates, a shock if ever I saw one. Maybe it was going to be a day of shocks? Liverpool were 9/4 to beat Chelsea at home, as Martin Tyler remarked on Sky “Its the biggest odds ever on Liverpool to win at home in a Premier League match!” When the line-ups were announced I was pleased to see Kuyt back in the team, even more surprising was to see him partnering Torres up front in a 4-4-2 system (Craig Levein take note).

The Chelsea line-up looked weaker than normal, no Essien, no Frank and no Drogba. If there was ever a time Liverpool were going to beat Chelsea it was today. We started the game with a high tempo, pressing Chelsea. Kuyt was back to his usual self, working hard for the team, on 11 minutes he played a wonderful ball to Torres, who then neatly dinked the ball past Petr Cech. Bang, 1-0. Lucas and Meireles covered every inch of Anfield twice over and Meireles’s hard work was rewarded when he stole the ball from Ashley Cole and fed the ball to Torres, who cut back inside and curled the ball past the hapless Chelsea keeper. Perfect time to score, 2-0 HT.

The half time break saw Drogba warming up and Liverpool fans fearing the worst, myself included. Drogba has tormented Liverpool and especially Jamie Carragher over the years. If there was one player who could change the game, it would be Drogba. The second half saw the other side to Liverpool, the disciplined and well organised Liverpool, something Roy Hodgson has to take credit for. Lucas again was everywhere and breaking up play, Riena made an impossible stop from a point blank Malouda shot! From that moment you knew Liverpool would hold on. Chelsea kept pressing and Reina parried Anelka’s shot onto the bar, Carragher almost threatened to add to his seven own goals but his deflection found its way to Pepe.

The second half seemed like the longest 45 minutes of my life, yet this was only a Premier League game, which resulted in us moving to 9th place. But overall, its much bigger than that.